Steve simply hasn't a clue

14 April 2012
Israel 0 England 0

An England team fast slipping out of contention in this European Championship qualifying campaign are being led by a coach quite clearly out of his depth.

Steve McClaren will not be sacked after his side delivered another desperately poor performance on Saturday night. But he probably should be. Mac the Knife' was the headline that accompanied his decision to remove David Beckham from the England squad last August. Eight months later and Knife the Mac' now seems more appropriate.

Read more:

• Does England need Frank Lampard?

• Rooney rages at McClaren after Israel flop

• Hayward: Price we pay for Sven Lite

• Powell: McClaren fails to lift the curse of the ego

• Redknapp: Don't believe that the players aren't hurting

• England player ratings

• Barnes: England must accept own mediocrity

• We've seen it all before with England

• Swaggering wide boy Bentley shows McClaren what he missed in Hell Aviv

• Italian sets Wembley record

• Smart Alex's switch card

• Pitch fever as Staunton orders heavy roller

• Healy's heroics a puzzle for Wise

While a lack of instantly available alternatives offers McClaren the kind of protection Sven Goran Eriksson enjoyed, Brian Barwick and his senior colleagues at the Football Association might live to regret their current stance, which allows McClaren to remain in charge at least until England entertain Croatia in the final qualifying game on November 21.

They need to take a long hard look at the Group E table and decide if they really have appointed a coach capable of guiding the national team to Euro 2008: capable of masterminding victories over Russia and Croatia: capable of outwitting one of the world's finest international coaches.

To think, Barwick removed Guus Hiddink from his shortlist before going after Luiz Felipe Scolari and then turning to McClaren in a panic. Hiddink, the FA must now fear, will have the last laugh.

No margin of victory against Andorra on Wednesday will hide the deficiencies in this England team. No sudden dominance of part-time opposition will convince us that these players are responding to McClaren with anything other than apathy. Apathy and anger, given Wayne Rooney's reaction here in Israel.

The pre-match declarations again amounted to nothing more than empty promises. It's time to do our talking on the pitch,' they said in their cliche-ridden, coaching-manual parlance. Well, they are still talking gibberish.

Problems identified on these pages after defeat in Croatia are more obvious than ever. England's players are still immersed in the malaise that developed in the wake of Euro 2004 and McClaren was never going to drag them out of it when he was a member of the Eriksson regime.

If anything, England have sunk even deeper since McClaren took over. Even if Eriksson failed when faced with the finest opposition in a decisive knockout encounter, he at least made qualification for tournaments look easy.

There was the odd occasion when it went alarmingly wrong, with Belfast among the most notable. But this game against a distinctly ordinary Israel team was one Eriksson would have won with a less than inspiring but effective away display. McClaren, it seems, does not even possess Eriksson's good fortune.

The players also deserve criticism. Especially when they were so quick to say how wonderful life was under their new coach last autumn. They said they adored him. Loved the club atmosphere' he had created. Delighted in the sharper' training. Welcomed a good rollicking' when they needed one.

McClaren gave them a rollicking last week, informing them that they had not been performing to the required standard, and what did he get in return? Another sub-standard performance and a place in history. This, after all, equalled a 26-year-old England record of one goal in five internationals.

John Terry was honest enough to admit that England's players had never claimed to be any good, but they are better than England's last six games suggest. Remember the reaction when the qualifying draw was made? It was confident smiles all round.

By the time the final whistle had been blown and the Ramat Gan Stadium reverberated to the chants of England fans who burst out a chorus of You don't know what you're doing', What a load of rubbish' and You're not fit to wear the shirt', McClaren was marching down the touchline in a daze.

He walked into the press conference unable even to get the result right. We've lost a game of football,' said a flustered England coach before realising his mistake and saying: Well, it feels like we've lost'.

If he then displayed enough wit to stop his players accepting an invitation to sample the vibrant Tel Aviv club scene on Saturday night, he lacked it when it came to influencing England from the touchline.

Bold changes needed to be made once it became obvious England were going to struggle to score and waiting until the 73rd minute to change one right back for another was desperately disappointing.

He needed to do something far more radical. Give Aaron Lennon the opportunity to play on the right. Move Steven Gerrard into the middle and push a faltering Frank Lampard over to the left. Better still, take Lampard off and give Kieron Dyer the chance to impress on the left.

When Andy Johnson was struggling to make an impact, why wait until the last 10 minutes to see if Jermain Defoe could have any more luck? Substitutes need time to change a game and McClaren was too slow to respond.

Changes will undoubtedly be made for Wednesday's game in Barcelona. Ashley Cole is back. Micah Richards will probably remain at right back ahead of Phil Neville. But will McClaren have the courage to reshuffle his midfield? Would he dare drop Lampard and go with Lennon and Dyer on the flanks and position Gerrard in the middle?

Gerrard was one of the few players who emerged with any credit against Israel, creating the best of England's chances.

If that is too radical a shift in direction, he should at least consider pushing Lampard left — where he plays for Chelsea, albeit in a midfield three — and deploying Lennon in his preferred role. Defoe should also return alongside a frustrated, frustrating Rooney.

People must produce,' said McClaren. They know that. They must perform. I think that was the message we got across this week.'

It was difficult to ascertain what McClaren's message was after finally emerging from a disillusioned England dressing room, after no doubt being briefed by Bill Beswick, who does not appear to be having much of an effect as England's resident psychologist.

At times McClaren almost sounded deluded. Did he have concerns that England might not qualify for Euro 2008? No,' he said. None whatsoever. There's a great determination in the players.'

But did the call to arms not fall a bit flat? It was never going to be like that,' he said. I think that you forget that with this group of players we've scored one in the last five games. So we haven't won for four games.' (It's actually five, Steve.)

He insists the players are still playing for him, but then got himself into something of a muddle when he was accused of kidding us into thinking he was in charge of great players'.

I've never said they are great players,' he declared. But he said last week they were special. We have got players,' he replied. You see them week in and week out.'

We do, and with increasing regularity we also see them fail in an England shirt.

ISRAEL (4-5-1): Aouate; Shpungin, Ben Haim, Gershon, Ziv; Ben Shushan (Alberman 88min), Benado, Benayoun, Badier, Tamuz (Barda 76); Balili (Sahar 76).

Booked: Tal Ben Haim, Benado.

ENGLAND (4-4-2): Robinson; P Neville (Richards 73), Ferdinand, Terry, Carragher; Gerrard, Hargreaves, Lampard, Lennon (Downing 83); Rooney, Johnson (Defoe 80).

Booked: Carragher, Rooney.

Man of the match: Tal Ben Haim.

Referee: Tom Henning Ovrebo.

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